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Paris - Premier League leaders Manchester City have the most expensive squad in history, according to a report published on Monday by the Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory.

The research values Pep Guardiola's squad at €878 million, with Paris Saint-Germain second on €805 million, after a January transfer window in which City acquired centre-back Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for €65 million.

Neymar's world-record signing from Barcelona accounts for more than a quarter of the PSG total but Kylian Mbappe is only on loan, despite an anticipated transfer fee of up to €180 million to be paid to Monaco at the end of the season.

That leaves Guardiola managing the costliest-ever collection of talent.

"When you want to compete at the highest level, you need to spend," Guardiola said last month.

"Some clubs spend 300, 400 million on two players. We spend it on six players."

Two other teams have spent more than €700 million building their squads -- Manchester United (€747 million) and Barcelona (€725 million).

The rest of the top ten is made up of Real Madrid in sixth, Juventus in eighth and four Premier League teams -- Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton.

The researchers calculated that the average Premier League squad cost "a record high" of €291 million, more than double La Liga's average of €131 million.

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